Vacation! (a month ago)

Yeah, so we've been back for a while now, but I still wanted to share a few pictures from the family vacation last month.

We spent a week at Folly Beach, SC, a.k.a. the "Edge of America," in a nice townhouse on the waterway. We = mom, dad, Justin, Paul and I (and Baker for a night or 2). The townhouse = 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 levels, with views.

On our first full day of vacation, Paul celebrated his 30th birthday.
Mom and I decorated the walls with silly banners and signs that read "lordy mercy look who thirty" and the like.


We grilled out a steak dinner and had a lovely cheesecake birthday cake for dessert. We were kind and kept the candles to a minimum ;)


We attempted to enjoy the beach. It was a little too hot to really enjoy being on the beach for more than an hour or so, but we had fun. Here's Justin just chillin' on the beach (um yeah, you've got a bit of molten chocolate on your chin man)


We cooled off at the pool - while watching dolphins swim up and down the adjacent waterway


And of course we ate - that's what vacation is all about! Eat! Eat! Eat some more!

Mexican dinner at the Taco Boy (in Folly Beach)


A 'haunted' dinner at Hyman's Seafood (in historic Charleston)


Dinner at the [flipped] Charleston Crab House (why "flipped"? check out our favorite tv 'flipper's,' Trademark Properties - more on them later too)




Yummy sweets at Sonic



There was much more feasting, but in order to protect the innocent, I'll refrain from posting additional glutenous photo evidence.

What we did on vacation (besides eating, sleeping and melting in the heat)

Despite EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNINGS, we took a trip out the hottest place in ALL of Charleston, Ft. Sumter. Why? Because we're history junkies how could we have NOT gone?

On the boat getting read to make way for the Fort. We're happy. We're just a little warm. We have no idea the torture that awaits us, see, we're smiling?!


Approaching the Fort on the lovely SpiritLine boat (at 9:30am - it was already 89 degrees with 89% humidity!)


Are we melting yet?


We desperately needed protection from flying/biting insects of all kinds... mom spraying Justin down.


You'd think the 'sea breezes' coming in off the ocean would make it feel a bit more pleasant. Well, they did not. Mom and I, trying to catch some [slightly] cooler ocean breezes


Honestly, not much of what you see if really from the Civil War era Ft. Sumter. It was bombed and blasted to bits in 1865 (check it out here - seriously). Looking down on the parade grounds and back towards the city of Charleston

We are seriously melting. This is 2.3 seconds before I discovered the AIR CONDITIONED museum a few steps away. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one to discover this cool spot.

"Can we go now?" (just before jumping back on the boat to return is to [hopefully] cooler places)

"Bye Fort!" (mental check - been there, don't have to return!)

The Bridge & USS Yorktown Aircraft Carrier

Paul and I ended up spending the afternoon at the SC Aquarium (it was slightly cooler)


Then we ALL (mom & dad included) went to see Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix (in 3D!) at the IMAX. Justin is now a fan, mom and dad are now throughly confused (this was their FIRST Harry Potter exposure)


You'd think we'd had enough of the hot and steamy weather to stay indoors and just play the Wii, but no, mom and I were determined to do some walking around downtown Charleston. I wanted to take some photos for a project I'm doing at home and apparently mom is just as crazy and I, so we headed out for a day of sightseeing and melting [again].

Here's a few of my favorite shots of homes/gardens/etc in historic Charleston






(doh! I just discovered that my favorite shots haven't been uploaded and are sitting on our external hard drive at home, trust me, I've got some beautiful pictures of homes and gates along the Battery)

And for good measure, here's a few random parting pictures. Needless to say, we had a great time and we were not ready to return home.

On the beach one last time


They always think they're so funny (right?)


Trademark Properties downtown Charleston retail shop - recently seen on TV (The Real Deal or The Real Estate Pros on TLC)


Their James Island office and car (yes! I am a dork - I had to check them out as we drove by this office everyday!)



Haunted? St. Philip's cemetery at night (oooooo, spooky!)


And finally, the lovely downtown Charleston from the water

End of summer

(yeah, those Charleston vacation pictures, um they're still not organized yet, one day, maybe I'll get some posted here)

Well, summer has ended (by the calendar & fashion rules anyway) but our garden still grows and the birds visit daily.

Check out the 3 gold finches eating the basil seed in our patio tomato plants



Even Mr. Cardinal gets in on the fresh seed action



And the garden still thrives! Despite the lack of rain and very strict water restrictions, it grows in protest (with a little help from the water collected by the A/C condensation line)! We are still harvesting tomatoes & peppers and now have WATERMELONS and CANTALOUPES growing! YAY! Hopefully they'll make it a few more weeks and we'll have fresh, homegrown melons. YUM!

Cantaloupes

2 more little ones


Watermelons!




Big, juicy tomato (which will hopefully ripen a bit more before any mockingbirds go after it)


Cana lilies still in bloom (I highly recommend these beauties! You can see them bloom all up & down the NC highway system)



And finally, a GO PACK red, rosebud :)

Oh yeah, it is hot!

I took this screen shot of my "WRAL Desktop Weather" yesterday afternoon, thinking this would be the high for the day:



(Air temp: 101, heat index 109)

But alas, the sun kept shining and the heat kept rising until we hit and tied the HIGHEST high temperature reading for the RDU Airport... 105 degrees!

Record Report
Statement as of 5:15 PM EDT on August 21, 2007
... Daily record high temperature set at Raleigh-Durham Intl
Airport...
... All-time record high temperature tied at Raleigh-Durham Intl
Airport...

A record high temperature of 105 degrees was set at Raleigh-Durham
international Airport today... August 21st. This breaks the old
record of 101 set in 1983.

The high temperature of 105 also ties the all-time record high
temperature for the Raleigh-Durham international Airport.

Stormy Friday

After days of heat and no rain, I was surprised to see these gathering outside the office window:







Reflection (quote, unknown source)
“In our lives there is bound to come some pain, surely as there are storms and falling rain; just believe that the one who holds the storms will bring the sun.”